DeNA partners with Docomo, prepares for Japanese social game coup

DeNA, the massive Japanese mobile social game company, has taken another step toward its imminent invasion of the western world of social games in a partnership with Docomo. You know, the company that bought American mobile game developer Ngmoco for over $400 million last year? That massive company.

Docomo is a Japanese phone manufacturer that will link its 6 million smartphone and feature phone users in Japan with DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform through i-mode. The oddly-named feature is found on all Docomo phones, and it will provide users a direct link to DeNA's list of games by as early as May.

Not to mention that a dedicated Mobage application will be pre-installed into several Docomo phones sometime in the future. According to a statement, Docomoco users will have exclusive early access to new content and easier billing for micro-transactions. Of course, the two plan to bring the model to Europe and the rest of Asia through mobile phone operators and game developers.

However, we're going to assume that if this strategy does well in Europe, DeNA will stake its claim in the US as well. Whether this is enough to combat Zynga has yet to be seen, but know that the Far East has burst onto the scene with guns a' blazin'.